Reading some of the posts in this thread: http://www.martialartsplanet.com/forums/showthread.php?t=126276 made me wonder who here on MAP actually practices TCM? How did you start? Myself, I have sort of mixed feeling about TCM. I am highly skeptical about the theories behind acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. Despite that I think it is interesting stuff. I don't know much about it really though. This thread made me wonder about it. There is actually a college near me that teaches yoga, herbal healing, acupuncture, etc. as their main focus. I heard it mentioned by some folks, and it used to actually sponsor my local NPR radio station a bit- and this thread reminded me about it. They have a Doctor of Oriental Medicine program which ends up costing someone who goes through it all $91,696 (62878 pounds). Seems like an incredible amount of money for something that quite frankly probably 90% of the population in my country would find somewhat dodgy, and a lot would be openly hostile to (for purely xenophobic reasons). It's $545 (373 pounds)per credit hour, and of course they have a lot of programs in the $10,000 range that don't take as long as that program - I'm guessing a lot more students go with those. I wonder how many people learn Chinese herbs from Kung Fu schools and places like that - which sort of ties into the thread that got me thinking about this. I doubt many people go to a school like the one I mentioned.
don't forget that - endangered animals get killed for parts allegedly being aphrodisiacs and other nonsense - carcinogenic herbs are sold as healing herbs - in surveys acupuncture was almost exactly successful as placebo-therapy which can be a step forward in explaining the wonder of acupuncture... not sure if traditional chinese medicine is worth anything.